Enquiry Into the Validity of the British Claim to a Right of Visitation and Search of American Vessels Suspected to Be Engaged in the African Slave-Trade

A sophisticated defense of state supremacy. Hardcover, 151 pp. Originally published: Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard, 1842. Published simultaneously in the United States and Great Britain, Enquiry criticizes Britain's seizure of American vessels engaged in the Atlantic slave trade. Although the importation of slaves was prohibited by law at this time, Wheaton rejected the right of other nations to enforce this American law. Instead of serving the United States, he reasons, such actions are a violation of its sovereignty. Reprint of the first edition.

Henry Wheaton [1785-1848] was a distinguished attorney and diplomat. His Elements of International Law (1836) established him as America's foremost authority on that subject at that time.